Dental tool



L. P; WAGNER.

DENTAL TOOL.

APPLICATION FILED man. 1920.

1,369,582. Patented Feb. 22, 1921.

64 4; m; MM

IINVENTOR.

ATToRNEYS.

; My; @ZJM LOUIS 1. WAGNER, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

DENTAL TOOL.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 22,1921.

Application filed August 12, 1920. Serial No. 403,047.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS P. WAGNER, a citizen of the United States, residin at Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, and tate of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Dental Tools, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to dental instruments and is particularly directed to an instrument for handling and manipulating the plastic material for forming fillings; for manipulating wax for taking impressions, for inlays, and other similar work; and for burnishing, trimming and shaping both the wax and the fillings. In forming filling, particularly in making the final shaping operation and in'taking wax 1mpressions of cavities to be subequently filled by inlays in accordance with such impressions, great difficulty has been experienced in keeping the ordinary tools fromcutting into the gums on the one hand and into the body of the tooth on the other. If a device is made with a blade thin'enough to readily pass between the teeth and also between a tooth and the gum, it is usually made in such a manner that it has a cutting edge which destroys the finish of the filling and injures both the tooth and the gum by cutting into them.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a dental instrument which may be used in manipulating, shaping, and burnishing fillings, and also wax,

while taking wax impressions, in such a manner that it may be freely and readily used to burnish, shape and trim the wax or other filling without danger of cutting either the gum or the tooth; and to provide an instrument which may be further used for lifting the wax impression from the tooth, after it has been formed without marring it.

Other objects are to provide a combined instrument in which one end may be used to trim, shape and burnish the wax orfilling, and the other end may be used for manipulating the wax or other material and may conveniently take the form of a spatula; and to provide this instrument with steel ends or ends both resilient and hard, and with a light, intermediate body.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view of the instrument.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of a tooth and a portion of the instrument showing the lnstrument in use in burnishing a filling or wax impress on.

- Fig. 31s a similar view showing the instrument in use in trimming the wax down to the desired shape.

Fig. 4 is a View of a tooth with a wax impression therein showing the instrument in posltion to trim the wax between this tooth and the adjacent tooth not shown.

Flg. 5 is a view showing the manner in which the tool is used to remove the wax it to the main portion 5. This angular ex-' tension again is bent in an opposite direction to form a rounded heel 7 and terminates in a rounded gradually tapered point 8. Throughout its extent, this end of the instrument is' round in cross-section at all points and therefore has no sharp edges.

In use, for example, in trimming a wax impression or amalgam filling, the instrument may be used as in Fig. 3. 1

The rounded tapered point 8 allows the instrument to be freely used to trim the wax or filling, to reach down between the gums and the tooth or between adjacent teeth, as for example, as shown in Fig. 4, Without danger of cutting either the tooth or the gum, as the rounded surface of the tool slides freely over the edges of the tooth and also between the tooth and the gum without cutting either the tooth orthe gum.

In the usual type of instruments used by the dentists for this purpose, the edges are relatively sharp and do not slide freely over the edges of the tooth at the point where the tooth joins the-filling or wax, but tend to cut into, and trim off, such ed e, thereby injuring the work. With this divice, it is possible to trim the wax or the filling immediately adjacent the tooth edge without any chance of the instrument digging or cutting into the tooth as the rounded surface causes the instrument to glide over the edge of the tooth and to trim only the filling or strument and this point is drawn sidewise,

across the wax for instance, the wax may be accurately trimmed by the instrument and the surface, after it has been traveled over, is fairly smooth and even. It may be, however, furtherevened up and burnished or smoothed by means of the rounded heel 7.

I claim:

Awax trimming and burnishing tool for dental work comprising a handle, a member projecting therefrom, said member being circular in cross section at all points and gradually tapering to a needle point, said member having a smooth contour throughout its length and having a rounded burnishing heel formed intermediate its ends.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS P. WAGNER. Witnesses MARY D. Coss, O. A. Rmnm. 

